April 28, 2011

Today I am featuring an online company that I have adored for quite a while now: Shabby Apple.

If you haven't heard of them before, they are an online dress boutique selling women’s dresses, casual dresses, skirts, and women’s apparel. What I love about them is their variety of colors and styles! There really are so many different things to choose from and I love that!

They also have swimwear now.... I have my eye on this one. Just don't know if I will have time to get back in swimsuit shape for the summer after having the baby! Maybe next summer :) This one is super cute too!

I also love their little girls dresses! Such cute things that are unique and have that boutique look without being super expensive!

They are so generously sponsoring this post with an awesome giveaway and a coupon code for all of my readers!!! Thanks Shabby Apple! The coupon code is "maggieholmes10off" and if you enter it at checkout you will get 10% off your order!!

I got to choose which dress to give away here on my blog and let me tell you, it took forever!! I am so indecisive when there are that many cute ones to choose from!!

Here's another sneak using paper and stickers from the Paper Lanterns Kit - 3rd Add On, brads and buttons from Pink Lemonade Kit - 2nd Add On and some of the extras from the shop this month. I'm in love with those Crate Paper chipboard shapes and ordered 2 sets of them because I knew I would want extras!! The alpha is from the Main Kit but I sprayed them with yellow mist before using them.

And last is the one that I did for our "Member Lift" feature. We all chose one of the Studio Calico members to scraplift this month. I chose Jaime Warren -- she is amazing!!! You should definitely check out her gallery!!! I do have a funny story about the whole member lift layout............ I left my layouts until the very last minute this month (because I was working on a bunch of things for Creating Keepsakes) and I stayed up super late working on them the night before they were due. Well, I don't stay up late much anymore especially because I am pregnant so I was tired and my feet/ankles/legs were SUPER swollen and hurting, but I knew I had to push through it and get these done. Well after I finished my 3rd layout and was about to head to bed I realized that I FORGOT to do the member lift layout!!!!!!!! A little bit of panic set in especially since I knew there was NO way I could stay up any longer to do it! So anyway, I went to bed and had to get up super early the next morning to finish it before the kids woke up and the next busy day started...... needless to say I did get it done and it actually turned out to be one of my favorites because I loved the inspiration layout so I pretty much lifted the exact design and it also came together quickly! Thanks for the inspiration Jamie!!!

I guess you could say that they are all pretty much mixes of all 4 kits..... which is typically what I usually do. After I take the kit pictures for the website each month I just mix everything all together and go for it!! It just works better for me that way.... I am not good at keeping the kits separate!

I'll be back to share my full layouts soon... For now get ready so you can be fast and snag the kits you want before they are gone!!

P.S. I am posting that giveaway that I mentioned tomorrow..... so be sure to check back!!

April 19, 2011

First I just wanted to say thank you for all of your comments!! I have been reading through them and I have to say that I am so glad I asked you to post something interesting about yourselves! It has been so much fun reading all of these random facts and fun things about all of you! And it is always awesome to get to know my readers a little bit better!!

April 13, 2011

We are doing another blog hop at Studio Calico today to celebrate the fact that Countryside and State Fair are now in the shop!! I know that many of you have been waiting to get your hands on these products!! Well now you can stock up!! Yippeeee!

All of us design team members have created a layout to showcase some of the products..... Here is mine:

At first I had pulled out some of the pink products like the Cotton Candy Paper and the Pink Notions to create a layout of Emily but then the bright reds, blues and greens from these other products were just calling my name so I switched gears and made this layout about our little Nathan and his nickname - Nate Skate. I kept it pretty clean and simple so the photos could shine!

I know I didn't use any mists on this layout but I also have to give a shout out to the Mister Huey's mists in these two product lines because the colors are FAB!!! (I especially LOVE piglet, bonny blue and lemonade!!!) Seriously some of my faves now!! I have a feeling they will go fast so be sure to snag some of those if you share my passion for misting!! I think my bottles of piglet and lemonade are already running low because I have used them so much! haha!!!

As part of the blog hop we are all doing a giveaway on our blogs!!! Yay!!!! This is always the fun part for me -- the fact that I get to share some of my favorite products with one of you!!

To enter the contest simply leave a comment here on this post and tell me something fun or interesting about yourself! I always love a chance to get to know my readers a little bit better! The contest will be closed on Monday, April 18th at which point I will draw a winner at random.

Now, on to the hopping part of the blog hop...... be sure to continue on to the next blog so you can see another fun layout and also enter to win some more Studio Calico goodies!! I am going to be hopping along with all of you so I can see what they all did!!

April 07, 2011

These are from a newborn photo shoot that I did recently. He is just too sweet and I have to say that photographing him made me even more anxious to have my baby!! I simply cannot wait!!

They are only tiny like this for such a short time and it's amazing to capture it on film!!

Priceless for sure!

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Technical/Photography Info for those interested:

I used my Urban action from the Color Mix Set on these (link to my Photoshop actions is on the right).

Also I have a new beginner/intermediate photography workshop starting on Monday. There are a few spots still left if you want to hurry and jump in! This will be the last online photography class I will hold until later in the year after I have had the baby...... so if you don't want to wait until Fall, now is the time to join us. (link to the workshops page is on the right as well).

April 04, 2011

Hi there! I created a layout for the Making Memories blog and it is being featured today.

I used lots of their brand new Dilly Dally line which is so bright and fun! It's perfect for spring time layouts or just a girly layout as well!

I also fell in love with the new Tie the Knot paper.... specifically the piece I used for the background which is called "Frames" and I wanted to show you some more details about how I put the three bright patterned papers into the frame spots.

Step 1: Use an exacto knife to carefully cut out the centers of the frames.

Step 2: Choose the papers that you want to use behind each of the frames and cut them down so that they are just a bit bigger than each opening. The pink and green rectangles don't have to be cut exactly straight, but for the one that is hanging off the edge (the yellow one in this case), you want to make sure that you cut the rectangle with a nice straight edge so that it lines up perfectly.

Step 3: Flip the paper over and use adhesive to attach the rectangle squares behind the frame openings. This image shows the paper from the back with the rectangles glued down.

Step 4: Turn the paper back over and you are finished! Now you have a customized background page that is ready for your photos and embellishments!